


Cat Eyes

by DarkAliceLilith



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 06:57:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11686419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkAliceLilith/pseuds/DarkAliceLilith
Summary: When he bumped into an attractive stranger at the coffee shop, Alec didn't actually expect to see him again, then Magnus showed up at the tattoo shop where he works.





	Cat Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> The person I wrote this said that they liked coffee shop aus, and I decided to go with that but add my own little twist. Enjoy!

The sound of the tattoo guns and the radio echoed throughout the small shop. Alec sat in the back corner, working on a piece for a customer he was tattooing later that day when the radio was shut off and he heard Jace’s voice calling out to him. “Alec!”

“What?” Alec yelled back, not stopping the drawing of cat eyes. 

“When’s your next appointment?”

“Not till three, why?”

“Think you can do a coffee run for us?”

Alec looked down at his nearly finished drawing. He added a couple of more details before standing up. “The usual?”

“Extra espresso for mine,” Isabelle said, and he nodded giving her a smile before she went back to tattooing a man’s leg. 

He stepped out of the shop and stretched. He had been hunched over his desk working on different designs since the shop opened so it was nice to be able to get up and walk around for a bit. He slipped his hands into his pockets and headed towards the small coffee shop around the block, humming a song from the CD Jace had brought in. 

As he neared the coffee shop, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out to see there was a text from his youngest brother. He opened it and smiled at the meme Max sent him and started to reply as he reached for the door. Not paying attention, he didn’t notice the person trying to walk through the door at the same time until he slammed into him and felt cold liquid spill down the front of his shirt.

“Oh my God, I am so sorry!” Alec said, looking up and was immediately struck by how beautiful the man in front of him was. 

“No worries,” the man replied with a soft smile and a wave of his hand. “I needed an outfit change anyway. You just gave me more of a reason to go home sooner.”

“I uh-I umm…Let me buy you a new one,” He stuttered out, face flushing. “It’s the least I can do.”

The man’s smile widened and Alec saw his eyes flash down the front of him. “Well, I’m not one to turn down a drink from someone so handsome.” He held his hand out. “I’m Magnus.”

“Alec,” he responded, glancing down at the ground for a minute, cheeks burning as he shook Magnus’ hand. “Magnus. I’ve heard that name before, you’re-”

“The owner of Pandemonium, yes,” Magnus finished for him. “And I assume you are from Angelic Tattoos?”

“How did you know?”

Magnus just smiled again, brushing a finger against a tattoo on Alec’s forearm. “Call it a hunch. So, coffee. Shall we?”

Alec nodded and made his way over to the counter with Magnus where a new drink was handed over to Magnus. “I’ll uh-I’ll pay for that.”

“No need,” the girl behind the counter said with a smile. “He’s one of our favorite customers. So, the regular three drinks, Alec?”

Alec just nodded and turned towards Magnus who was sipping on his drink. “I still feel bad.” He handed money over to the cashier and stepped aside so the next person in line could order. “Can I buy you a drink another time?”

Magnus smiled. “I would like that. But right now, I need to hurry home and change. I’ll see you later, Alexander.”

It wasn’t until Magnus was out the door that Alec realized he never got a number. He sighed and walked back to the tattoo shop with his and his siblings’ coffees in hand. Of course he would end up meeting someone so attractive and forget to get a number. 

He walked inside and handed out the coffees before making his way to the back to get rid of his coffee-stained shirt. “Something happen?” 

Alec turned around to see his sister sipping on her latte. “I literally ran into the most attractive man ever, spilled coffee on both of us and then forgot to get his number so I could buy him a new one.”

Isabelle laughed, but immediately stopped when her brother gave her a look. “I’m sorry. Did you at least get a name?”

“Magnus.”

“Magnus? As in Magnus Bane? As in owner of Pandemonium?” his sister asked in an excited voice. 

“Umm...yes?”

Isabelle set her coffee aside and wrapped her arms around Alec. “Oh my God, Alec! Now you have to come with me to the club sometime! This is a perfect chance to run into him again.”

Alec just rolled his eyes and gently pushed his sister away. “I don’t do clubs, Izzy. You know that.”

“Well, if you don’t have his number, how else are you going to see him again?”

Alec shrugged. “Apparently, he’s a regular at the coffee shop.”

Isabelle clapped her hands. “Looks like you need to make more coffee runs now.”

Alec just shook his head. “Yeah, I guess so.”

 

By the time three rolled around, the shop had been empty for a few hours, leading to Alec and Jace throwing a baseball around while Izzy worked on some artwork. When the bell over the door rang, Alec tossed the ball back to Jace and turned, instantly frozen in place when he saw the guy from the coffee shop earlier.

Magnus locked eyes with him, lips curved in a smile. “Hello, Alexander.”

Alec couldn’t help but blush. “Hi. Are you here for a tattoo?”

Magnus nodded, his smile getting bigger. “I have a three o’clock appointment with one Alexander Lightwood.”

Alec looked at Magnus in surprise before looking down at his appointment book and there at three o’clock he had written ‘Bane’. “Ah, I have your last name written down,” he said tapping his book. He looked up nervously at Magnus. “So uh, I finished your design this morning. Would you like to see it?”

Alec could feel his siblings eyes on him and knew they were grinning, and probably planning something stupid. He shuffled the things on his desk around and found the drawing. “Come on back and I can get you set up.”

Alec led Magnus to his station and had him sit down, handing over the needed paperwork to fill out while he set up. Once Magnus was done and everything was set up, Alec showed him the cat eyes he had been working on earlier. “What do you think?”

“Oh it matches Chairman’s eyes perfectly! And I love that you managed to incorporate the magic! This is going to look amazing!”

Alec smiled. “Thank you. I did my best. Your cat is very cute by the way.”

“He is, isn't he?” Magnus said fondly. “He’s my baby.”

“So you were thinking of putting this on your wrist, correct?” Magnus nodded and Alec sat the design down and pulled on a pair of gloves as Magnus removed his jacket. 

Alec couldn't help but to stare for a moment. The button up Magnus wore underneath did nothing to disguise his muscles. Magnus chuckled as he rolled up the sleeve for his right wrist and Alec shook his head when he realized he had been caught.

“I’m sorry,” Alec mumbled, cleaning the spot he was tattooing. 

Magnus just smiled. “It’s okay. I don’t mind attention from pretty boys like you.”

Alec could feel himself starting to blush and had to look away for a moment, catching his sister’s eye from across the room. She was giving him the thumbs up, while Jace was silently clapping and smiling at him. Alec just shook his head and grabbed the transfer paper and carefully laid it against Magnus’ wrist. “Did you figure out what colors you wanted for the magic? I know you said you were having trouble deciding.”

“I was thinking of settling on blue and golds, if that’s okay with you.”

Alec pulled off the transfer paper and let Magnus look at the design. “I think that’s a good combination. What do you think?” Magnus nodded and Alec grabbed out the colors he needed and set them aside. “So, this is your first tattoo, correct?”

“It is. I’ve thought about it for a long time, but I didn’t think I could commit to permanently putting something on my skin for life until Chairman Meow came along.”

Alec nodded and pulled on a pair of gloves. “I can understand that. I mean, I generally get whatever I think looks good, or means something for me, but it can be tough deciding what to get inked. I’ve had plenty of customers change their minds several times, and others just deciding they didn’t want to be inked after all.”

“Even after I thought of getting something for my cat, I went back and forth between actually wanting to get it and not,” Magnus said. “In the end, It was seeing your portfolio and the work you did on a friend of mine that convinced me to get it. Your work is amazing, Alexander.”

Alec could feel himself blush again and turned on the tattoo gun. “Are you ready?”

Magnus nodded. “I am.”

Alec got started on the outline, Magnus wincing as he did so. “You okay?”

“I am,” Magnus replied. “It doesn’t hurt, it’s just, how do I put it?”

“An annoyance?”

Magnus nodded. “Yeah, an annoyance. Someone told me my wrist would hurt a lot.”

“Once I get to the sides where the bone is it might,” Alec said. “It tends to hurt more where there’s bone, but I can warn you when I get there.”

Magnus shook his head. “It’s better if I don’t know, then I’ll start anticipating it.”

Alec just nodded and went back to work, getting the outline down. He stopped for a minute and wiped away excess ink and blood before grabbing the yellow ink. “If you need a break, just tell me. I still have to take breaks, especially when I’m getting it colored the same day.”

“I will, Alexander,” Magnus said with a smile, Alec couldn’t help but to smile back before looking down and coloring in the cat’s eyes. 

Alec noticed Magnus wincing again and decided to distract him with talk. “So, how long have you had your cat?”

“Since he was a kitten,” Magnus replied. “I like to feed the neighborhood cats and one day I saw this little kitten who kept getting pushed out of the way. He was so little, so I took him inside and the rest was history. That was about three years ago.”

“And Chairman Meow? How did you come by that name?”

“Oh I like to give my cats silly names,” Magnus replied. “I even had a cat named Great Catsby.”

“We never really had pets, but there’s a cat at my parents’ work that’s been there since before I was born,” Alec said, changing the ink for a little bit of green. “No one knows where he came from. He just showed up one day and never left. They named him Church.”

“Church?”

Alec nodded. “My parents’ work was an abandoned church that they turned into an office building.”

“Would this place happen to be The Institute?”

Alec nodded. “Yeah. We all used to work there before deciding we didn’t want to follow in our parents’ footsteps.”

“I’m sure they loved that decision.”

“About as much as they loved me coming out to them after they tried to set me up with the daughter of a family friend,” Alec replied, wiping away more ink. “What do you think so far?”

Magnus looked down at the tattoo. “I love it already.”

“Need a break or would you like me to keep going? We got some water or snacks if you need it.”

Magnus shook his head. “I’m fine. Unless you need a break?”

“You’re my first client today,” Alec replied, dipping his needle into the blue ink. “It's been a slow day so all I have been doing is working on my own art mostly.”

Magnus looked around at the various paintings and drawings decorating the shop’s walls. Each one had a sibling’s initials on it, telling who made what. “Do you sell your work?” 

Alec stopped for a moment before nodding. “Interested?”

“Perhaps,” Magnus said. “I could use a new painting or two for my apartment.”

“Well, there are plenty to choose from. You are more than welcome to look through them after we’re done.”

“I think I will.”

After the tattoo was done, Alec turned off his tattoo gun and sat back. “What do you think?”

Magnus held his wrist up and smiled. “It’s beautiful. I love it, Alexander. Thank you.”

Alec could feel himself blushing again and smiled back. “You’re welcome. Go ahead and take a picture if you want before I wrap it up.”

“Can I include you in the picture?”

Alec looked at Magnus in surprise. “M-me?”

Magnus nodded. “Unless you’d rather I didn’t?”

“No, it’s uh-it’s okay,” Alec replied. “I just don’t think anyone’s asked me for a picture before.”

“Well, I just want everyone to see the artist who did my work,” Magnus said. “Quite a lot of people follow me on social media.” He turned his head where Isabelle and Jace were pretending not to watch them. “Would one of you mind taking a picture for me?”

Isabelle immediately jumped up. “I would love to!”

Magnus got up to stand next to Alec before handing his phone over to Isabelle. He held up his wrist so it could be seen and Isabelle told them both to smile before snapping the picture. She handed the phone back to Magnus who nodded in approval before snapping another picture of just his wrist. 

Alec wrapped the tattoo up and pulled his gloves off. “Keep that on for a couple of hours and make sure to clean it with soap and water regularly. We have some tattoo ointment up front you can buy, but I usually just recommend A and D ointment. Any other questions should be answered on the sheet I gave you earlier, but if something comes up, feel free to contact me.”

Magnus nodded and pulled out his wallet, handing over some cash to Alec. Alec counted it and blinked a couple of times. “The tattoo was $175, Magnus, this is almost three-hundred.”

“I tip well,” Magnus replied with a smile, writing something down on the edge of the tattoo care paper Alec had given to him earlier. He tore the edge off and handed it to the other man. “I hope to see you again, Alexander.”

Alec looked down to see a phone number and smiled. Magnus turned and made his way to the front, watching as he stopped by a painting on the wall. Isabelle and him exchanged a few words before he handed her another hundred dollars and she pulled the painting off the wall for him.

Isabelle ran over to him, looking excited. “Please tell me that you’re going to ask him on a date.”

Alec shoved the number into his pocket and went back to cleaning his station. “Maybe.”

“Maybe? He clearly likes you, Alec,” Isabelle said. “Jace! Tell Alec Magnus likes him!”

“Izzy’s right. He was totally flirting with you.”

Alec just rolled his eyes. “Apparently he is a regular at the coffee shop, so perhaps I will see him again.”

It took Alec two weeks before he sent Magnus a text, asking him for a coffee date. His siblings had been pestering him ever since Magnus came to the shop, and then he saw Magnus again at the coffee shop a week and a half after. It was a brief meeting as Magnus had gotten an urgent message while he was waiting for his coffee that something was up at Pandemonium, and he had to rush out. 

Now, Alec nervously sat by one of the windows, watching as people went about their day. The door to the cafe opened, drawing his attention. It was ten minutes past the time they were supposed to meet and Alec sighed heavily when he saw it wasn’t Magnus. 

He looked down at the almost empty cup in front of him, having nervously drank most of it as he waited. Another cup was set down and he looked up to see one of the baristas. She smiled gently at him. “He’s a busy man, sometimes he gets a little tied up.”

“Are you a friend of Magnus’?”

The girl nodded. “He helped my sister and I when we had nothing. We were complete strangers to him too, but he helped us and didn’t ask for a dime in return,” she replied. “He’s a good man. You’re lucky.”

“Thank you.”

He reached for his wallet but she waved him off. “It’s on the house,” she said with a smile before walking away. The door opened a few seconds later and Magnus came in, looking around until he saw Alec.

“I’m so, so sorry, Alec,” he said once he made his way to the table. “I got caught up in a meeting. I hope you can forgive me.”

“It’s okay,” Alec replied. “I was almost late myself. Had a tattoo take longer than expected.” He took a sip of his new coffee and nodded towards Magnus’ wrists. “How does it look?”

Magnus pulled up his sleeve to reveal the tattoo. “Healed up wonderfully. Though the ink that bleed out in the beginning startled me a bit. Had a perfect imprint of it on the inside of my sleeve. I called my friend Raphael in a panic but he told me to just calm down and it wasn’t actually coming off.”

“Yeah, I keep saying we need to rewrite the information we give out to say bleeding ink is a part of the healing process,” Alec said, reaching out to trace the cat eyes. “Still happy with it?”

Magnus nodded. “It’s perfect, and I’m glad I got one of the most handsome men I’ve ever laid eyes on to do it.”

Alec felt himself blush. “Th-thanks.”

“So, how did you and your siblings get into tattooing?”

“It was Izzy’s idea mostly,” Alec replied. “I’ve always been interested in tattoos, then Izzy started to kinda date this artist and he helped us all realize that working for our parents and taking over the business wasn’t actually what we wanted to do. So we quit the Institute, did our apprenticeships and opened up our own shop. Took Mom and Dad a long time to accept that we were never coming back, but they’re slowly realizing that we just weren’t cut out for an office job.”

Magnus smiled. “It’s always good to carve out our own paths in life.”

“What about you? How did you get interested in owning a club?”

“I like to party,” Magnus replied, as the barista walked over and handed him a drink. He pulled a bill out of his pocket and handed it over to her. “Put the rest in the tip jar, and tell your sister she and her girlfriend are all set to rent out the club next Thursday.”

The barista smiled. “Thanks, Magnus. I will.”

Magnus smiled at her before turning back to Alec. “So Pandemonium was a pretty popular gay club back when I was still a teenager. Sadly, it closed down when I was in college and I wanted to revive it so people had a place to have fun and be themselves. I’ve seen your siblings there before, but I don’t think I’ve ever caught you there.”

Alec shook his head. “Clubbing isn’t my thing. I’d much rather sit at home and read or work on a painting.”

Magnus nodded. “Understandable. I have a couple of friends who have never stepped foot into the club during open hours.” Magnus smiled softly and leaned a little closer. “Of course, I could always give you a private tour of the place if you wanted.”

Alec blushed and nearly choked on his drink. “I uh-I-I appreciate the offer, but…”

Magnus leaned back in his seat. “It’s okay, Alexander, I was only kidding.” He took another drink and smiled. “Actually, I am working on purchasing the restaurant next to the club, so if you’re ever interested, we could have dinner.”

Alec smiled too, looking down at his drink. “I uh-can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Why me?” Alec asked, looking back up. “Why did you want to see me again?”

“Because you caught my eye,” Magnus replied. He leaned forward again and laid his hand over Alec’s. “I have to be honest with you, Alexander. I wasn’t looking for a relationship. I knew who you were, but until I walked into that shop..” Magnus paused for a moment, shaking his head. “I’ve shut myself off for a long time, but there’s just something about you.”

“You barely know me.”

“No, but I want to.”

“I think I would like that.” He smiled again and took Magnus’ hand in his. “And once you get your restaurant, I have a friend who would probably love to help paints murals on the walls, if you wanted.”

“Your friend wouldn’t happen to be Clary Fray, is it?”

Alec blinked a couple of times before nodding. “Yeah. She’s one of Izzy’s best friends. How do you know her?”

“I’ve known her since she was a child,” Magnus replied. “I’m old friends with her mother. In fact, she was the one who recommended you.”

“I have a feeling she had more in mind than just a tattoo being done, and I think that my sister was part of it.”

Magnus chuckled softly. “I wouldn’t put it past her.” He gave Alec’s hand a squeeze. “I’m glad for it though. I got to meet you.”

Alec smiled. “Yeah. I’m glad too.”


End file.
